In Which We Share Our Agrarian Adventures

Farmers Daughter Notes // Our Story-Part One

We moved to the farm in March of 2003. We weren’t farmers before that time, it was an all-new adventure for us! We moved from our 1400 square foot house in Chesapeake, VA to 25 acres in Suffolk, Va. Compared to our two car length backyard, 25 acres was enormous!

What prompted the life change, you might be wondering. Well, back in the late 90s, we were considered a large family by most standards with 6 children. Dad had a day job as a computer software trainer while Mom homeschooled us kids. (No small feat!) We had recently gotten into eating more healthily due to health issues that had cropped up among the children, asthma like symptoms, ear infections, etc. Local and organic were not the bywords back then, and it was hard to source cleaner food. Once Mom started changing our diets we were amazed to see the health issues clear up! That sold us on eating naturally. Around the same time, Dad began to feel the call from the Lord to come home from his day job and do something that could involve the whole family. He wanted his family to be able to see him at his best work during the day, not just when he was tired and wanting to kick back and relax in the evenings. Also he wanted to be able to be more involved in our lives.

Farming seemed like a good way to merge the two desires. After much prayer and research (and patient waiting!) we eventually purchased and moved to the farm in 2003 to start a new chapter in our lives! We started small; a few chickens and rabbits, and then gradually scaled up to where we were ready to be self-sustaining in 2008. Dad was still working at his day job up to this point and late 2007 he began to feel that the Lord was calling him leave his day job and work the farm farm time. The Lord had blessed out efforts so much so that we had reached the point where we couldn’t grow
further unless Dad came home.

Dad was a nervous about making the plunge. What if it all fell apart and he didn’t have a job? But he felt the Lord’s calling strongly, so he made the leap of faith. At the next business meeting when all of the employers and employees sat around and discussed their hopes and plans for the coming year they got to Dad and asked him what his dreams were.

Dad cringed a little in his seat. “Um, well I’d like to become a full time farmer.”

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2 thoughts on “Farmers Daughter Notes // Our Story-Part One”

Oh my word ….. isn’t it AMAZING how the Lord works in our lives?! We have gone from small town folk – to city folk – to country folk – to small town folk – to country folk (the last one is the current).

We just recently bought a smaller house in the Greenville, VA area with 5 acres. My parents and sister love it ….. I am a smal town girl at heart lol.

I am a 19 year old stay-at-home-visionary-daughter. I have been following your blog for a while now ….. I am absolutely amazed how similar we are 🙂